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. 2020 Oct;15(5):498-505.
doi: 10.1159/000504662. Epub 2019 Dec 19.

The Mode of Detection Is Not Associated with Quality of Life in Women with Breast Cancer

Bettina Braun  1 , Marc-André Kurosinski  1 , Laura Khil  2 , Joke Tio  3 , Barbara Krause-Bergmann  4 , Hans-Werner Hense  1
Affiliations

The Mode of Detection Is Not Associated with Quality of Life in Women with Breast Cancer

Bettina Braun et al. Breast Care (Basel). 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: Apart from saving lives, mammography screening programs (MSP) are expected to reduce negative side effects of treatment by detecting cancer earlier, when it is more responsive to less aggressive treatment. This study compared quality of life (QoL) among women with breast cancers that were detected either by screening mammography, as interval cancers, or clinically among women not participating in the MSP.

Methods: Retrospective study of first-ever invasive breast cancers detected among MSP-eligible women aged 50-69 years between 2006 and 2012 in Münster, Germany. EORTC QLQ-C30 and -BR23 questionnaires were mailed to 1,399 cases still alive in 2015 (response rate 64.1%).

Results: Women's responses were obtained on average 6.1 years after diagnosis. Mean crude and age-adjusted scores for overall QoL, breast and body image (BBI), and five functional scales (FS) were comparable between groups of detection mode. Clearly lower adjusted means for most scores were observed in women with interval cancers, if time since diagnosis was less than 5 years. Cases younger than 60 years showed lower values for some FS, particularly among interval and screen-detected cases.

Discussion/conclusion: In summary, cases with breast cancer showed health-related score values that were similar to the general population of the same age. There was also no indication that mode of detection markedly influenced these scores. However, after adjusting for tumor stage and other influential factors, screening participants appeared more susceptible to score declines after a diagnosis of cancer than non-participants.

Keywords: Breast cancer screening; EORTC; Interval cancer; Mode of cancer detection; Quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean values and standard errors of the EORTC QLQ-BR23 and -C30 items, fully adjusted for significant factors (from Tables 1 and 2), by mode of detection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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